


Age of Proposals and Babies (as Tony Stark would later dictate to his diary)

by mermaiddragon



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Found Family, M/M, Stony - Freeform, Trans Character, brucethor - Freeform, thor is trans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2020-09-01 17:37:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20261938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermaiddragon/pseuds/mermaiddragon
Summary: Steve tries to propose to Tony but they're both idiots. Bruce and Thor are having a baby (and Thor is a trans guy and comfortable with the idea of being pregnant).Rewrite of "Age of Ultron" in a fun, queer way





	1. Chapter 1

Steve was ready to pop the question. He and Tony had been dating for a few years now, and things were going smoothly. The part of Steve's brain that was used to the 1930's was a bit confused by how they had been doing that. Sharing a living space (in the Avengers Tower) before dating, having sex before taking each other to dinner, taking the habit of sharing a bedroom every single night before saying “I love you”, dancing together for the first time only after establishing they were already dating. If it had just been that, it would have only been a slight hindrance, a buzzing in Steve's mind, an habit to grow out of. He was successful at adapting, that was probably his greatest strength, it wasn't a problem.

No, the matter was, Tony was... a bit obtuse. He was the greatest mind he had ever encountered, a brilliant genius, a wonderful engineer with magical hands and a racing brain. He just was very, very dumb when it came to feelings. Especially if said feelings were directed at him. He was absolutely unable to take a hint, especially if the hint came from Steve. Which complicated the dating thing. Which was untraditional so Tony didn't even have data he could look at to calculate that, yes, this man was very interested in him and in dating him.

But Steve was a “stubborn bitch”, to use words Natasha, Sam, and basically everyone else used to describe him. So he had made Tony understand that he was head over heels for him and wanted very much to date him for an as-long-as-possible period of time. And now he was trying to ask him to marry him. Because that was legal now, and Steve would be damned if he didn't take that opportunity to : 1) do something that was forbidden when he was young and thought liking men was wrong 2) make Captain America into even more of a gay icon. 

He had read biographies of him, written when people thought he was dead. All these historians reading the scraps of paper he had kept, the ones where he and Bucky exchanged promises to love each other forever, all these historians putting their hands on his drawings, finding the studies of butts he made and never concluding that maybe he liked guys. It was infuriating. But you could pretend that seventy-six pages full of naked dudes, butts, jawlines, stubble, biceps hugging other biceps, muscly leg on lean leg, were dreams of having a body like that, he supposed. If you had a hard-case of straight goggles. If you had missed the notebook also full of more butts but with the addition of dicks and hands and mouths, even though it was right there, laying in the same case as the other notebooks. However, there was absolutely no way that any future historians could mistake Captain America marrying Iron Man as “male camaradery” or “greek-like body ideation”. 

There was just one problem : Tony was, somehow, not understanding Steve's intentions. At all. It was even more infuriating that being straight-washed.  
There had been a first ring. A pretty simple band, made of iron, because Steve had planned to ask : “will you be my iron man for the rest of our lives, will you let me marry the man inside the suit ?”. But he hadn't been able to do that, because Tony had found the ring. Which still could have worked. If Tony had only said : “Hey sooo what's that in your sweater drawer ?” Steve would have dropped on one knee and delivered his cheesy line. But no. Tony had to say, matter-of-factly, while typing on his tablet and watching something on TV : “Hey cool ring, you should wear it, jewellery suits you.” And how do you go from that to a proposal ? “Yes jewellery suits me, you know what would suit me even better ? A marriage certificate with our names on it”. That was the answer that had immediately come to Steve's mind and once it was burning his tongue there was no hope of finding something less awkward so instead he had just said : “Thanks. I brought pizza, want some ?” And he had started to wear the iron ring. 

Then, there had been a second ring. Gold, with small incrusted rubies. Made him think of the suit, because he was still working a “marry the man in the suit” approach. Tony hadn't found it, this time. Steve had had it directly delivered to the restaurant he was taking his boyfriend to. People were ready to do absolutely anything for Captain America and he was trying not to abuse the situation and the power that gave him but... Sometimes he needed impossible things to be done. Like getting a golden ring with rubies delivered at 9pm in a very select-restaurant that was entirely privatized. Tony was probably a bad influence on him. But his boyfriend was working on some secret project he wasn't telling him about and making him focus was near impossible, so getting his attention was only achievable with grand romantic gestures. And making him deposit his electronics in a soundproof case at the entrance of the restaurant. It had all been perfect. Excellent food, excellent service, excellent music and then the little box brought by the server as per Steve's instructions. He had pushed it across the table, half-smug, half-sheepish. 

-Open it, he had instructed.  
-Oh wow, Rogers, a ring ? If it wasn't my birthday I'd think you were proposing. 

Tony had put the ring on, gotten up a bit, leaned over the table and kissed a flabbergasted Steve. He wasn't just failing at proposing because Tony was oblivious to his intentions and very focused on some new mysterious projetct. He was failing because Steve was completely, incredibly, incommensurably just plain dumb. He had somehow been so focused on his proposal that he had forgotten about his own boyfriend's birthday. 

And now there was a third ring, made of gold and titanium, plans of proposing through the screen at a baseball game derailed because of a mission in a Hydra facility, two super-powered angry teens to babysit, and mysterious late-night talks between Bruce and Tony. It was a mess but Steve would find a way to propose. He just had to soldier on.


	2. Chapter 2

-Engaged ? Nah, Steve wouldn't propose to me.  
-What ? But.... your rings ?  
-What rings ?  
-That golden ring on your finger and the only ring Steve ever wears ? They aren't engagement rings ?  
-No... Mine is a birthday gift from Steve and his... I don't know he had it stashed in his drawer and then he started wearing it.  
-He had a ring... in his drawer... That didn't make you suspicious ?  
-Should it ?  
-Tony...  
-No, look, Clint, life isn't some kind of rom-com, people have plenty of reasons to store rings in their drawers, I mean it's not like Steve has a jewellery box or something, and he half-lives between his room and mine so...  
-So ?  
-So I should maybe refurbish part of the tower so we could have communicating bedrooms, why didn't I think of that sooner ? Do you think Steve would like that ? It would be a little like moving in together but it's still in the Avengers Tower, so it's just... you know, a practical decision for people who date each other.  
-Tony, I think Steve would love it and he also would love you guys to have your own place and I'm pretty sure he would also love marrying you.  
-Nonsense. Why would Captain America want to marry me ?  
-For the same reasons he's dating you ?  
-Be rational here, Clint, I know you're not used to use your brain but listen. Steve and I... We're just dating. He'll just.... He wouldn't marry someone like me, he's probably just waiting for someone to walk around the corner, you know. Someone like Peggy Carrter, for example.  
-You....  
  
Clint gave up and just put a spoonful of chocolate cereal in his mouth. Let Steve deal with his mess. He turned over the tabloid he had brought in the kitchen, the one claiming Iron Man and Captain America were planning a winter wedding in the Bahamas. Hehad thrown it on the counter, asked how he didn't even know they were engaged, got himself a bowl of cereal and now this mess of a conversation had happened. Tony had no confidence in himself and still put Steve on a pedestal and that was a whole knot of bullshit to untangle, one he didn't have time for. He had his own stuff to deal with, like the patch of new skin on his wound and the 2 missed calls on his phone. He put his empty bowl in the sink, stole the entire pot of fresh coffee from the machine and excused himself from the kitchen. Tony didn't even hear, already mumbling over 3D plans of a refurbishing of the tower.

*

  
Whoever had put Maria Hill on baby duty was an utter fool. The twins weren't exactly babies, but they were teens and that was worse. Traumatized teens angry at the world for treating them badly. Hearing people talking their hearts out wasn't really something she enjoyed. But the only reason she had accepted to watch the twins while the avengers were resting after their mission was so she could get information. Shield might need it.  
  
Catching them had been an accident. Hulk was running, Pietro Maximoff hadn't been looking where he was going and they had ran into each other. Quicksilver's velocity paired with Hulk's masse was enough to knock the young guy unconscious. As for Wanda, she had been trying to manipulate Tony's thoughts. But he was closely followed by Steve, who knew his boyfriend wouldn't be completely focused on his surroundings and was at risk of getting distracted from potential threats by shiny new tech. She, too, had been knocked out, but by Cap's shield. And now, both teens were sitting in a room in the Avengers tower, hand and feet bound. And they weren't telling Maria anything, just starring at her while sipping their sodas through a straw.  
  
-I still can't believe you guys volunteered to let Strucker experiment on you.  
-Yeah, what kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country ?  
  
Captain America had just stepped inside the room and Maria was feeling both relieved and frustrated. Her chore was over but it all had been for nothing. He was already turning to the twins, smile all out.  
  
-Steve Rogers, you might know me as Captain America. If you've never heard of me, what I just said might have sounded really insensitive and I apologize.  
-We know who you are, finally answered Wanda.  
-How... began Maria.  
-Party's an hour, go get a rest, I'll see you there, said Steve with a smile and a little wave, as he sat in front of the angry teens.  
  
She thought of protesting but he was right, the party was soon and she meant to enjoy it. As she – slowly – closed the door she heard a few more sentences.  
  
-A party ?  
-It's like... and old people hang out, I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy it. There's people like Falcon, you know Falcon ? Doctor Helen Cho might be there too. You know, old people. But, hey, maybe if you stick around long enough and you show us we can trust you... You might get an invite to see Thor get sloshed and War Machine tell jokes.

  
*

  
Tony let out an excited whoop and quickly stood up, hands in his hair. Bruce paused his whale songs, just in case. His lab partner waved at him so he also removed his noise-blocking head-set and his headphones. Tony was prone to rambling, cursing, whooping, and producing all sorts of loud noises when he was working on something. Which made sharing a lab challenging when being startled tended to turn you into a massive beast. But they had found ways to make the lab more accessible to Bruce so they could study together Loki's scepter during the three days Thor had allowed them.  
  
-Look at that ! Was saying a very excited Tony. So, that's Jarvis, right ? Started as a language program and got more evolved. Top of the line.  
  
Bruce nodded, waiting for the rest of the explanation.  
  
-And that... is whatever's inside the scepter.  
  
The projection of the modelization of the AI was infitintely more complex than Jarvis'. And Bruce already knew how complex Jarvis already was.  
  
-This is incredible... It looks... Like it's thinking !  
-Exactly ! Look at the connections, over here, how it's transmitting information... This could be it, Bruce, the answer I was looking for, look how quick it's thinking ! That's exactly what we need for Project Green Bean !  
-Please don't call it that. Why are you still calling it that ?  
-I work with what I have, you want me to change the name, give me something else to work with.  
-Can't you just give it a file name, like for the suits, mark 3 or something ?  
-Absolutely not, it's way more personal than a suit of armor, Bruce, you want me to treat your...  
-Hey guys.  
  
Thor had just entered the lab, coffee in hand. His hair was tied in a ponytail and he was wearing a very sensible crimson cloak. “My boyfriend is hot”, thought Bruce. “Thor is way too hot for this world”, thought Tony. After a minute of standing mouth-open like fishes struck by lightning, the two genius scientists opened their mouths :  
  
-You look super good, started Bruce  
-Look at that ! Cut Tony. Do you know what that is ? It's inside the scepter, do you have any asgardian tips for us, on what we're looking at ?  
  
Their local norse god sat down and let one of Tony's machines draw his blood while he exposed them his theory, which involved something called infinity stones, that weren't actually stones but some kind of entities but also atoms but also not exactly like that. The three of them decided that this would be a conversation less headache-inducing if they had a drink so they headed to the party downstairs. Tony asked Jarvis to send him a message when the blood analysis would be ready and they wrapped up the modelizations, each AI in its own corner, right where they had found them, absolutely not mixed together.


	3. Chapter 3

Proposing at a party was a good, easy plan. Steve was good at easy plans, after all he was the dude who had entered several Hydra facilities by knocking on the door. He would take Tony in a private room, propose and then they could either go back to the party and sad-drink or announce all their friends the good news. 

It was a nice party. Natasha and Bruce were exchanging pleasantries at the bar, Tony and Thor were discussing who had the best boyfriend, Maria was drinking champagne and complaining about the lack of ladies (Steve made a mental note of introducing her later to Helen Cho), Rhodes was trying to tell his new joke to everyone who would listen, a bunch of veterans were getting drunk somewhere, some young elegant women were chatting on a couch and even Sam was there, even though he still had no news on their “missing person case”.

But, and Steve should know that by now, plans never went as expected. There was always something to derail them. A tesseract, Red Skull, mad scientist saved on a computer, evil twins... This time, it was a robot. It peacefully wheeled inside the room while they were all trying to lift Mjolnir. It made a beeline to Thor and showed him something on a screen. Then the Asgardian smashed his glass on the floor, screaming “Victory !!” went to Bruce and tenderly wrapped him in his arms, whispering something. Tony sneaked up to the robot, typing and reading stuff and then made an excited face, almost immediately concealed. Steve felt a bit left out but also felt like this wasn't the right moment at all to propose. Whatever was going on would take precedence.

-Attention everyone ! called Thor

Silence fell upon the party, even the music stopping. Bruce tugged Thor's sleeve and whispered something to him.

-Uh, yeah, right. Could the Avengers...assemble...over here please ?

They lead them to an adjacent closed room, while the party resumed on the other side of the wall. Thor and Bruce were absolutely beaming with pure joice. So they probably weren't announcing an upcoming battle. In this case, only Thor would have been smiling. As soon as the door was closed Thor boomed : 

-I am pregnant ! Bruce and I are going to have a baby !  
-Hell yeah ! Project Green Bean is on tracks ! shouted Tony  
-Please stop calling it that, asked Bruce, unable to keep himself from smiling

Steve had a brief moment of “what ? How ?” but Sarah Rogers had not raised her son to ask rude questions, so he decided that the “how” was none of his business and congratulated the pair along with everyone. 

-I'm going to record this baby the best CD of lullabies there ever was, announced Natasha.  
-I didn't know you could sing, remarked Tony.  
-She has a very soothing voice, said Bruce.  
-Let me know if you need baby clothes or something, offered Rhodes, we still have all the stuff from when my niece was a baby.  
-So that's why Helen Cho was asking if Thor was coming to the party, started Clint. I mean, usually when people ask that it's because they want to stare at your muscles, since some people are attracted to that, but Helen's a lesbian, so it made no sense, even though some people say you're the god of lesbians, because you wear plaid...I guess ? But actually she was asking because she was concerned wether you'd drink or not, right ? I mean, she's been dropping by a lot these few months, I guess she was checking on you ?  
-Helen Cho is a lesbian ?? exclaimed Maria right before exiting the room  
-What was Maria doing there ? Asked Sam. Didn't we say “avengers only” ?  
-You drunk ? Alcohol ? Tonight ? Asked Bruce and Tony at the same time  
-Only a bit, sheepishly answered Thor, and I smashed down my glass as soon as the robot gave me the news. No more drinking for the following eight months, I promise !  
-And, Clint, just so you know, Dr Cho was helping me with the robots I developed, they're the ones checking on Thor's health. Bruce helped too. With the robots, I mean, I assume he took a larger part in the conception, added Tony with a wink.

Bruce groaned and hid his face in his hands, probably blushing. Thor wrapped his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders and kissed the top of his head. Steve realized that Tony's mysterious project had been centered around helping their friends and he felt a huge wave of relief. Thhat was so much better than everything he had feared, like a bunch of sattelites building a shield around the world or an army of peace-keeping robots... 

-I would like to apologize, resumed their asgardian friend, for my bersek moments these past six months. You might have noticed I had, once a month, a week where I was as intent on smashing things as Bruce when he gets all green and there's no cookies left in the kitchen. I had forgotten what it was like to have a period and these are very painful.  
-There's no need to apologize, intervened Natasha, I remember having them and these can be nasty. I'd be mad with rage too if they came back...  
-Thank you. In order to conceive I had to stop taking my magic potion... Wait, on Midgard you call it an hormonal injection. It's the same thing, it's just on Asgard we call it magic, and here on Midgard you call it medicine. But yeah it's the same stuff that midgardian trans men take, Bruce checked, same molecules, same formula, same syringe, just a different name. Anyway. Periods are painful, having them when you're trying to have a baby is upsetting and that's why I kept breaking stuff around here. But now, the asgardian green bean has been conceived !  
-Don't call it that... How did you even find a worse nickname for our child ?  
-Our child !!! Bruce, we're having a baby !!!

The happy couple embraced as their friends cheered and Steve exchanged a sappy smile with Tony. Maybe this wasn't their night yet but he was happy to share moments like this with him. They all rejoined the party and peacefully enjoyed the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Gabe for your advice :3 
> 
> And to all the potential other readers : I hope you're enjoying yourself as much as I enjoy writing this ! If you do and have the time/energy, kudos in the form of clicking the button or saying "kudos" in the comments are very much appreciated !


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers are found family, sue me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm back ?? with an update ??? Decided to have fun with these characters again because I love them and they deserve support from each other. Maybe I was thinking of another mcu movie that got out exactly a year ago and missed an opportunity to show Thor surrounded by friends and loved ones, supporting him in trying times ? Who knows !

Things at the Avengers Tower were quite hectic. Steve had always thought pregnancy was supposed to be a very peaceful and awe-inspiring moment in a person's life. But with Thor and Bruce involved, it was more of a loud joyous chaos. They had all gotten used to seeing in the hallways several robots (some specialized in obstetrics, some specialized in cleaning) running around a barfing Thor followed by a stressed-out Bruce Banner, followed himself by what was supposed to be a relaxing robot, followed himself by a mumbling Tony Stark. 

There had been a few hulking-rampage moments too, when Bruce was worrying in his own corner without telling anyone anything and reading books probably titled “Everything Bad That Could Happen To Your Baby and Spouse”. There had been several occasions where the Hulk was very intent on beating up long-retired obstetricians who were rumoured to have mistreated their patients. They all tried to keep him as calm as possible. There had even been a day - based on a “Parks and Recreation” episod one of them had recently watched - where they all tried speaking in low monotonous even voices and not say anything upsetting. But it had driven Bruce up the wall so instead they tried to check on him often enough and to share his readings to help him focus on the positive and the nuances. 

And then the second term of the pregnancy had started and that was another can of worms but less barfing was involved. Running, flying and fighting were still very not advised for Thor, who was getting antsy. Lucky for everyone's sanity, the internet was full of videos with exercizing advice for pregnant people. As for Hulk, he couldn't play wrestle with Thor these days so Tony had had to get the anti-Hulk armor out a few times for exercice and play. Both these programs led the two men to have long naps where they both snore a lot and everyone else blinked at each other wondering if their lives would ever go back to a peaceful time. Clint had snickered and told them that no, it wouldn't happen ever again, once a child was in the picture, it was chaos forever, trust him. They had all looked at him dumbfounded : what did he know about kids ? He had giggled sheepishly and took Natasha in another room for a conversation and that had been it. 

There was also the matter of the superpowered teens who were still in their custody. Steve, Natasha and Clint each took turns discussing with them, trying to figure out what their intentions were, if they still wanted to fight them, if they still were a threat. But also, getting to know them, earning their trust, building a relationship with them. They had been given a special room where they couldn't use their powers but could live fairly normally. 

One day, someone had forgotten to close the door of their quarters one day and... Well nothing much had happened really. They had found Tony, in the penthouse of the tower, busy ordering around the robots remodeling the floor. He still intended to make it into a flat for him and Steve to share, with communicating bedrooms but he hadn't made much progress since he was busy with project green bean. Steve had learned of the project alsmot by accident but he still had found a way to tell Tony he'd love for them to live together forever. Steve had thought that would led to a conversation about marriage but instead Tony had handed him plans and now they spent their together-time in the construction site. So that was where the teens had found them, looking for the infamous Tony Stark. They had expected an evil villain-like person, abusing employees on the phone and sending out orders to bomb random places, despite everything Steve had told them. Instead, they had found a man affectionately patting a robot, hair sticking in all directions, paint on his clothes, dust on his nose, wearing a sweat-shirt with the picture of a half-naked man ironing his pants under the words “the amazing ironing man”. Pietro and Wanda had been so startled they had both stopped dead in their tracks, lowering their guard, doubting this was the man responsible for the war in their country. Tony had started to panic, however, but now his first instinct was to call Steve instead of a suit. While the robots kept working in the adjacent rooms, the four of them had sat down in the rubble, sunset light pouring on them through the bay windows, and had a long conversation about the consequences of Tony's actions. He had apologized, a lot, and he had let them know about the amends he was trying to make. The twins had promised to not attack anyone and as they went back to their quarters to think things over, Steve had blurted out : 

-Tony, I want to start a family.  
-Oh sure, let me phone my lawyer.  
-What ?  
-They'll make you adoption papers for Pietro and Wanda, they've done harder things than that.  
-No, I meant... Tony !   
-What ?   
-Don't phone your lawyer, get off your phone, I didn't meant... I don't even know if the twins would want that !  
-Oh right. I just thought... You know, after that talk, I'd like to provide them with everything I took from them with my.... actions. So I thought that's what you were thinking too.  
-Well of course, but for one I don't have to legally adopt them to give them a roof and a loving family, not at first, at least, we could just let them live normally here, provide them with...an education and support and entertainement, and let them go out and have normal teenagers lives... But what I meant was...  
-DINNER, boomed Thor from three stories below.  
-Shit, muttered Tony.  
-Language ! Scolded Steve.

These days, Thor baked a lot, from bread to cake and pies. And missing dinner, as they had discovered in a painful way, was a major offence to his person. On their way tho the dining quarters, they agreed to go pick Pietro and Wanda, for their first family meal, if they wanted. Thoughts of what Steve had really meant were forgotten in profit of Tony making fun of him for having retorted “language”...


End file.
